Day 4 – 2012/August/01

                

From beginning to write this (9:07 PM EDT), my bags *should* be leaving Toronto in 20 minutes.  But the report also said that my bags had been on a flight that has already been to Iceland.  Perhaps it was the Canada Customs that held them up from this flight.  I just hope to have the bag before Friday, really.  Mircea and I are trying to coax others into a 3-night backpacking trip next to the Eyjafjallajokull volcano (2010 eruption site) between 2 cities over the long holiday weekend.  We shall see how that goes.

                Tomorrow I am teaching a “class”.  Mircea has told me how lost he has been in much of the technical discussion, and he would like a better understanding of the engineering/science of the things we have been discussing in class.  It will be nice to be tutoring again!  And it looks like several in the class have shown a similar interest.

                During lunch today, some of us did go for a swim in the ocean and a lounge in the outdoor hut tub next to the University.  I did realize I was in a bit of a quandary- would I rather play ping pong during lunch in Louisville, or sit in a hot tub during lunch in Reykjavik?  Or what other fun lunch-time endeavors can be taken on…

                Mircea and I were successful in taking a few to the gardens that are next the University.  Where we were finally successful in finding someone yesterday that was knowledgeable about the rock climbing in the area, it turns out that there is a reasonable bouldering area also right next to the University.  For as sunny as it was today, it was quite the pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

                Mircea is a little high maintenance at times.  He has complained about getting *only* 7 hours of sleep…  and when he told me he had run out of room to carry his “lunch” and asked if I had room in my bag, of course I obliged.  But did he really need to bring along 5 sandwiches for lunch?  You can decide…

                Because of the sky’s clarity, I set out to ask if the class as a whole wanted to meet out on the black-sanded Atlantic beach for the sunset.  A few of us met for dinner an hour and change before- some on bikes, some on foot.  Departing the Laundromat Café, we wound up separating and seeing the sunset from different locations…  but in traveling there, we were supposed to meet up with Marina…  and with Mircea’s insistence on making 3 more sandwiches – and eating them before we left – in combination with my general inability to estimate travel times (cut me some slack, this is a new place AND a new mode of transportation), we were 20 minutes late.  Marina said that we owed her a drink.  I said “fine” – so she and I both had blueberry smoothies.

                It’s interesting how Iceland, as a whole, receives a lot more influence from the US than from the EU.  For being a European nation, they wind up receiving more radio and TV from the States than from anywhere in Europe.

                And every time that I turn off the tap after washing my hands, there is a waft of sulfur that floats through the air.  It is just the smell I remember catching when turning off the tap in Granny and Pawpaw’s house.  Many have complained about it so far- but I cannot for the pleasant memories it brings.

                And now for sleep…  a little less than 6 hours should suffice.